Annotation:Duchess of Manchester's Strathspey (4)
X:1 T:Duchess of Manchester’s Strathspey [4], The M:C L:1/16 R:Strathspey B:Earl of Eglinton – New Strathspey Reels for the Piano Forte, Violin and B:Violoncello (1796, p. 3) N:Hugh Montgomerie (1739-1819) was the 12th Earl of Eglinton N:and a fiddler-composer. His collection was anonymously N:published in Edinburgh by Nathaniel Gow in 1796. K:C f2|e3fg2e2 c3de2c2|fa3eg3 {e}d3cd2f2|e3fg2e2 c3de2c2|Ac3Gc3 E2C2C2:| E2|C2EFG3E c3GE2C2|FA3EG3 {E}D3CD2E2|C2EFG3E c3GE2C2|Ac3Gc3 E3CC3E| C2EFG3E c2G2E2C2|FA3EG3 {E}D3CDE3|a3c’age2 g3ag2e2|fa3g3f e2c2c2||
DUCHESS OF MANCHESTER'S STRATHSPEY [4]. Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCD. The tune was composed by Hugh Montgomerie [1] (1739-1819), 12th Earl of Eglinton, a Scottish soldier, politician and administrator. He was also an amateur composer and cellist. After the fashion of his time, he declined to put his name to his collection, identify it only as "by a Gentleman."
The Duchess of Manchester, whom he honored with this strathspey, was Lady Susan Gordon, born in 1774 at Gordon Castle, Bellie, Perthshire, Scotland, the daughter of Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon and Jane Maxwell. She married William Montagu, 5th Duke of Manchester, son of George Montagu, at Eaton, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland and was styled as Duchess of Manchester at their wedding, in October, 1793. Cokayne writes that:
it is mentioned in the Memoirs of a Highland Lady, under date 1812, that 'the Duchess had left home years before with one of her footmen'.
Lady Jerningham wrote, in 1813:
'The Duchess of Manchester is finally parted from her husband, her conduct becoming most notoriously bad.
She died in August, 1828, at age 54.
